— “ Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius – and a lot of courage – to move in the opposite direction.“ (E.F.Schumacher, Economist, Source)

There is no similarity between both. Both are entirely different names.

The ONLY thing both have in common are

- the art set (just a guess, I really don't know)
- the brand name.

Nothing else.

— “ Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius – and a lot of courage – to move in the opposite direction.“ (E.F.Schumacher, Economist, Source)

… Since this is a general thread on Drakensang : "dtp Betty", the "Community Manager" of dtp, left the company on April, 1st. Sadly no joke, it seems.

I happened to see her on an almost regular basis throughout conventions and on the two Game Com's where she represented dtp.
My impression of her is that he is a wonderful person … In my eyes almost a bit too kind for her job … I was often feeling sorry for her because of the sad news regarding Radon Labs and the lack of advertisement etc. for these gmes … She surely did her job as good as possible, I assume, but was hindered - this is my purely personal impression - by the company's own agenda.

She wrote that she is still on "social network sites" with her real name - and that is her last riddle - coming from a community manager of an Adventure games publishing company - to the community : To find it out.

I didn't succeed so far.

Within tp she was the successor of Olgierd Cypra, who was community manager before her - and he now works at EA (for Mass Effect, for example).

I wonder where she'll work in he future ?

— “ Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius – and a lot of courage – to move in the opposite direction.“ (E.F.Schumacher, Economist, Source)

Anyway… Am I to understand that there will be no drakensang 3 (apart from some probably unrelated-but-for-the-name) MMORPG? Man, that sucks. I don't want another slash&hack wow-clone. So what happened? I come a bit late to it - only bought drakensang 1 in a shop some weeks ago, because it looked ok and was in the < 10 euro's priceclass, and thought to give it a try. It's true it starts a bit slow, but I acyually grew 'into' it, ans started liking it. For every RPG'er worth it's salt, one should at least play some time (yes, more then 15 minutes) before making a judgment. It's of course, a totally different style and approach than RPG's like morrowind and Oblivion (and Skyrim, no doubt), but once you get used to the more hard-core rpg elements in drakensang, and the turn-based party style, it's quite fun. As minor criticism, I would mention the weird way in moving your characters (took quite some time to get fully used to) and the fact you couldn't return to most area's visited (and the end finished everything, while I felt like exploring some more). But anyway, in it's genre, I thought it was pretty good. I heard it was quite the success in Germany; sales were pretty good. So…what happened? They make a hit, they make another one…and then they go bust?? I heard the river of time was also pretty good, and even better than the first (actually, I've just ordered it, now that I finished the dark eye - I like it enough, and it's again <10 euro - a real bargain, if you ask me). I was looking forward to another one, drakensang 3, and I think I would have bought it at full price even, if I liked the second. But I guess that 'll never happen, now. Seriously, what happened? Radon was a small player, but it seemed to do ok. Bad management or marketing?

Oh yes, and is the philosopher stone addition available in english? Somewhere?

There is no "Philosopher Stone" addiition. You might mean a Mod or something.

There IS an expension to Drakensang 2 called "Philleasson's Secret", however.

And there's a mis-interretation by those who did the titl, too : "The Dark Eye" is the title of the WHOLE pen & paper role playing game system - I have no idea why they put it so into the title as if this game was about an Dark Eye …

Not being able to re-visit areas was "fixed" for the second game - plus I read there is a fan-made solution to get these areas reaccessible again … Didn't try it out so far …

As far as I know, Radon Labs probably already had quite some financial problems (I heard that, but don't know it for sure), and they wanted to get more money to solve this with Drakensang 2.

Hoever, bad timing let dtp release Drakensang 2 around the same time as the rather dark & bloody Dragon Drage 1 - which people liked much, much more than Drakensang 2. No-one seems to like these lighthearted games like the Drakensang series anymore, says the cynic in me …

Online games giant "Bigpoint" bought Radon Labs - and all of the assets of them.
They decided to do an online game called "Drakensang Online". It ill be pure hack & slay and ill have NOTHING anymore in common with Aventuria - because they just don't have the license anymore to use the "The Dark Eye" (TDE) game license for their games …

So consider this book closed.

There are, however, two more games in the works : The action-RPG called "Demonicon" and the adventure game (yes !) called "Satinav's Chains" (with Satinav being "the keeper of time itself", so to say).

— “ Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius – and a lot of courage – to move in the opposite direction.“ (E.F.Schumacher, Economist, Source)

Originally Posted by Alrik Fassbauer
There is no "Philosopher Stone" addition. You might mean a Mod or something.

There IS an expension to Drakensang 2 called "Philleasson's Secret", however.

And there's a mis-interretation by those who did the titl, too : "The Dark Eye" is the title of the WHOLE pen & paper role playing game system - I have no idea why they put it so into the title as if this game was about an Dark Eye …

Not being able to re-visit areas was "fixed" for the second game - plus I read there is a fan-made solution to get these areas reaccessible again … Didn't try it out so far …

As far as I know, Radon Labs probably already had quite some financial problems (I heard that, but don't know it for sure), and they wanted to get more money to solve this with Drakensang 2.

Hoever, bad timing let dtp release Drakensang 2 around the same time as the rather dark & bloody Dragon Drage 1 - which people liked much, much more than Drakensang 2. No-one seems to like these lighthearted games like the Drakensang series anymore, says the cynic in me …

Online games giant "Bigpoint" bought Radon Labs - and all of the assets of them.
They decided to do an online game called "Drakensang Online". It ill be pure hack & slay and ill have NOTHING anymore in common with Aventuria - because they just don't have the license anymore to use the "The Dark Eye" (TDE) game license for their games …

So consider this book closed.

There are, however, two more games in the works : The action-RPG called "Demonicon" and the adventure game (yes !) called "Satinav's Chains" (with Satinav being "the keeper of time itself", so to say).

Yes, there was a lot about aventura there, though, I must say, I'm not really into the dark eye lore *that* much, nor do I play the pen &paper version. I just thought, you know, the drakensang game had something going for it. The gameplay was refreshing (at least for me, aside from pool of radiance - where I never could pass beyond the opening - all my RPG's I've played were more the 'lone hero' type like morrowind, oblivion, fabble…or things like neverwinternight or Sacred1&2). I thought this Drakensang series was quite good and (for me) pretty novel. The learning curve with all the possibilities and variables of hardcore RPG elements is a bit steep, but it shouldn't pose too big a problem for a real RPG-player. As you say, you don't see many of these light-hearted party-turn-based hardcore RPG's much. I mean, ok: you can feel it will always be a niche-product compared to those other titles I mentioned, but as such, I thought it had potential and a future. The graphics were well done (my version had the high res-pack), most characters were well developed, as were the voiceovers, story was ok, the eye for detail was excellent, and there was a great level of intricate tinkering with the RPG-elements there. That's why I don't understand the parents' poster question who 'would like it'. I think any true RPG fan would.

It's a real shame there won't be a third Drakensang. It was a good niche product who could have attained at least cult-status, even if it wouldn't have overturned the more mass-catering RPG's. If I had the money of Bill Gates, I would buy that bigpoint up, re-buy a license to TDE, and make another Drakensang. Maybe with the addition of being able to play with 4 players in co-op lan/internet, but for the rest with the same strong points.

Originally Posted by NeBy
So, is the Philleasson's Secret available in English?

Not that I know of. But - maybe in Benelux countries.

And in Spanish language. Definitively. But I don't know where to buy it except in Spain.

What you wrote about Drakensang fits quite well to the overall tone of opinions I read over different boards … Too bad they couldn't make another game, because in my opinion they were just - at this point - standing shortly before making everything better - and starting into a well-founded franchise.

But I guess the internationally too weak advertisement and the ill-timed release date of Drakensang 2 (especially) damaged it too much.

People prefer dark nd gritty games like Dragon Age nowadays - and in 10 or in 20 years they might perhaps wonder how they could miss such a gem like Drakensang ? And prefer other games for that ?

I don't know, I'm just speculating. But most peole say that Drakensang was a refreshing new product, compared to the main stream, kind of.

Besides, within the game you can do a right-click on almost everything !
This helps understanding the game quite a lot, imho !

— “ Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius – and a lot of courage – to move in the opposite direction.“ (E.F.Schumacher, Economist, Source)

No, a right-click on items, even on persons, creatures, on skills and special abilities - this explains a lot of the background, in in the case of items and skills and spells a right-click opens up a small explanation window.

There, normally, the rules for spells, damage etc. are explained. And often more detailed than for example in the handbook or in other places of the UI. The right-click is the road to the most detailed view on the rules set.

Apart from the console, of course.

— “ Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius – and a lot of courage – to move in the opposite direction.“ (E.F.Schumacher, Economist, Source)

But it's also said to be very combat-focused (I still haven't it as well):

— “ Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius – and a lot of courage – to move in the opposite direction.“ (E.F.Schumacher, Economist, Source)

Well, just received my TRoT! :-) At 8,99, it's a real bargain! I only tried it out for a little, but I have to say most of the voices sound better in German than in English, thusfar (also, the cabin-boy at the start doesn't speak, while he does in the german demo; anyone else noticed that? Because, yeah, I tried the free german demo version out a bit first (my german isn't as good as my english, but I understand it). Also..did they use the same (english) voice-actor for forgrimm? He sounds a bit different.

Anyway, everything looks good. I'm ready for a new adventure!

I'm thinking: if enough people would petition for it, wouldn't there be a chance they make drakensang 3, still?

And as a quick side-question: is it normal that I'm treated very coldly in that first harbor-village? All saying 'get away' and such? Or did I do something wrong, somewhere?

What do you mean with "harbor-village" ?
And no, there just won't be Drakensang 3.
Maybe, with a LOT of good luck another TDE game like this …

— “ Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius – and a lot of courage – to move in the opposite direction.“ (E.F.Schumacher, Economist, Source)

Well, the first village, where you wake up at the harbor after being hit on the head. Wherever I go, I get "Go away'-type of answers. Except for the count, whose ass I kissed to get some money. ;-)

BTW, my godchild came on vacation this weekend, and he saw drakensang on my computer. Normally he's into FPS (as teenagers are, these days), so I didn't expect much from it. But to my surprise he really liked it. He asked if he could borrow the first drakensang, and he is even going to order Drakensang 2 at the same shop I did, today. :-)

Maybe I underestimated the appeal. I mean, I know I liked it, but I've always been into RPG's, and especially this one is pretty hardcore and not too easy to comprehend (certainly for a kid). And usually, he only speaks about MoH, COD and such. But no, he really digged it. Even his younger brother seemed to like it (though he mostly watched it). I found it a bit surprising, but there you have it; even hardcore RPG's with turn-based party-style can peak the interest of young teenagers. :-)

You get treatzed coldly only by the "harbor-master" or what his title is.
At leastas far as I can remember.

And yes, as you mention it … This game could have an appeal to teenagers … Because kids and teenagers are more close to lighthearted stories than adults, I think …

— “ Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius – and a lot of courage – to move in the opposite direction.“ (E.F.Schumacher, Economist, Source)